CAI research and development in Japan to date has been primarily focused upon evaluation of the basic elements of hardware, software and courseware. These efforts have been reviewed from a professional point of view in a paper by H. Horiguchi, T. Okamoto and K. Nakamura. In this paper, the author tries to elucidate the potentials and future tasks of CAI research which will insure that it provides a pedagogically sound learning environment. This was done from the viewpoint of a paradigm of scientific change. As a result, he was able to show that classic, traditional CAI research and development is self-limiting due to the fact that it is under the onus of a "behavioristic/training" paradigm. In other words, present-day CAI research is mainly being controlled by the behavioral sciences and behavioral engineering. A review of the literature from other countries, however, shows that the theory of CAI system can be radically changed by the application of a "cognitive development" paradigm. This change is a result of recent developments in cognitive science, child development theories and knowledge engineering. These sciences present a new perspective of human education and learning and can have a beneficial influence upon CAI research and development.
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